Vehicular computing systems interface with a variety of remote systems including, for example, mobile devices, the cloud, remote servers, routers, etc. Further, these computing systems can utilize multiple vehicle connectivity systems to establish connections to these external sources. For example, if one considers FORD MOTOR COMPANY'S C-MAX HYBRID ELECTRICAL VEHICLE, it comes equipped with two connectivity modules, a telematics control unit and the SYNC system.
While both of these modules serve different customer needs, they also provide overlapping physical connectivity options to the cloud/backend servers. SYNC, for example, supports BLUETOOTH (BT) with different profiles. One of the profiles is SPP (serial port profile) that can be utilized for transferring data between SYNC and a BT paired phone. FORD's SMART DEVICE LINK (SDL) utilizes this profile and enables interfaces for smartphone applications such as PANDORA, NPR (NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO), etc. to safely interact with these applications using vehicle human machine interface (HMI) resources. SYNC is also equipped with Wi-Fi, which helps SYNC to connect to a Wi-Fi access point for internet connectivity.
The telematics control unit (TCU), offers connectivity to the internet for the vehicle using the cellular 3G/4G LTE. The TCU also has a Wi-Fi chip that can be utilized for connecting to a Wi-Fi access point in client mode. Thus, there are multiple options to connect such a system to the internet, using, for example, either the TCU or the SYNC system. One system may be more desirable than another, however, depending on what the purpose of the connection is or what other conditions are present. Other one-way data sources (HD Radio, DAB, SIRIUS, XM Radio, etc.) and two-way data sources (mobile device applications, USB drives, etc.) also exist.